I.  Hotel  Smeltzanel  Prepares  to  Re-open!

        (Note: Smeltzanel  means  "construction"  in  Tzotzil)

Once again volunteer teams from around the world are ready work with the indigenous rebels of Chiapas to build a unique school!  Buses of internationalists and Mexican citizens will leave Mexico City during the last days of 1997 and travel to the mountains of the Mexican southeast to help build additional classrooms at the first autonomous, indigenous junior high school in Chiapas, MEXICO!

Over the next several weeks these volunteers and their supporters will be collecting funds to buy construction materials.  Won't you join us?

As you prepare for the holidays please consider including a bag of cement, a pile of concrete block or foundation stone, a few kilos of structural steel or nails, several board feet of wood, some electrical wiring, one piece of galvanized tin for a school roof, a steel window frame, or a metal classroom door on your gift list!  One hundred percent of your donation
will be used in Chiapas to purchase construction materials.

Checks should be made out to Grass Roots Events, INC. and sent to address below.

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II.  Jkoltavanejetik ta Chanobunetik - Community Volunteers for Schools

You can become an active participant in the first Zapatista junior high school by selling school bonds.  Let us know how many packets of 20 - $5 bonds you would like to receive and we'll mail them to you tomorrow! Wonderful stocking stuffers and great for slipping inside of holiday cards! One hundred percent of proceeds will be used to purchase construction
materials.

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III.  Photo / Video / Slide Delivery to Oventic Aguascalientes II

Do you have a photograph taken in Chiapas? Would you like to return it to the Zapatistas?

Tens of thousands of photos and innumerable hours of video have been made of the indigenous rebels during the first five years of their struggle. However, only a small fraction of these images ever return to Chiapas.  If you or someone you know has a photo they would like to give back to the indigenous of Chiapas, we would be honored to deliver your images to the
indigenous leadership during our New Years trip along with personal messages.

Share the Chiapas photos which you have enjoyed with the people of Chiapas.

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IV.  Cloth and Photo Gallery Show Available for Your Town

Twenty-five large and beautiful photographic images and twenty-five hand woven examples of the textile of Chiapas' indigenous women along with  a bilingual text explaining the current situation in Chiapas with emphasis on the junior high school at Oventic Aguascalientes II.   Now available for showing at your local library, art gallery, neighborhood school, parish or union hall.  Call (619) 232-2841 for additional information.

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III.  Paramilitary Violence in Chiapas

Like others around the world we have been shocked and dismayed at the disturbing news of rightwing, paramilitary violence directed against Indian communities and their supporters in Chiapas, MEXICO.

The Mexican government insists it has no responsibility and cannot control this violence.  However those of us who have worked in Chiapas feel the Mexican government would stop the intimidation and violence if it was directed against the many exclusive tourist operators of Chiapas; and it's hard for us to imagine the Mexican government allowing wealthy landowners
being forced to run from their homes and hide in the mountains with their families!

We will probably have one more communication before we leave for Chiapas with additional information, but let us know if you would like to receive today a detailed report about the situation - plus several addresses of government officials to whom you can write letters of protest.

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Chiapas School Construction Teams
          dba Hotel Smeltzanel

c/o Craftsmen's Hall   AFL-CIO
3909 Centre Street       Suite B
San Diego, CA   92103    USA

(619) 232-2841  FAX (619) 232-0500
mexicopeace@igc.apc.org       http//www.igc.org/mexicopeace/
 
 

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